Scavenging rechargeable lithium cells from the roadside
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ม.ค. 2022
- While I'm not a huge fan of using lithium cells a single time and then discarding them, I'm fine with a free source of rechargeable cells lying on the ground.
These popular disposable inhaler devices are based around the same circuitry as the fully rechargeable ones, simply because it's the cheapest way to make them.
I guess some people just want a quick easy fix and these Chinese made devices cater to that market.
If you're willing to finger things that people have had in their mouth (Like coffee shop cups and pub glasses) then popping these devices open usually reveals a very useful rechargeable cell with a rating of between 250mAh to 600mAh. Perfect for replacing spent or faulty cells in many devices, noting that the salvaged cells don't have the usual protection PCB for overcharge, discharge and current protection. As long as the device they are used in has charge control on the PCB to limit the charge to 4.2V, then it should be fine. You could also stick a cell to one of the many TP4056 charge controller PCBs if you want the full works.
All the cells I've tested have been fully rechargeable, but always proceed with caution when testing this, and never use damaged cells. Also make sure you wear disposable gloves if handling the fluid cartridges in these devices as they are aimed at hard-core smoke inhalers and have a high percentage of knicker-tin.
If you want to go the full hog and reuse a complete device then the geek-bar one was the nicest and most reusable design for the technically inclined.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of TH-cam's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
#ElectronicsCreators
When you can literally discard the batteries and raw metals and still make a product that competes with big tobacco, you know they have absolutely killer margins quite literally.
When is the point in time where we - as a society - start challenging our suppliers a bit more? It is disgusting to see such things produced for single use only. Such throwaway stuff should cost much more, in my opinion.
The fact that these even exist as disposable products is beyond infuriating.
Incredible to think that these are considered single use. The aluminium and the lithium cells are such valuable resources which are just thrown away. Greta won't be happy
I’m a teen and I got into vaping for a little bit and I actually did exactly what you’re doing now and used my arduino as a charger using the 3.3v and grnd line to recharge them. I eventually quit and I haven’t vaped in about a year.
Hard to believe these days that any company would produce such an unethical product. Simply solved with deposit system, hike the price by £1 or £2 and make it refundable when you return it for recycling.
Please do definitely wear gloves when disassembling these things! Nicotine, and likely some of the other chemicals in there, actually can be absorbed into the bloodstream directly through the skin, and many of these have super high concentrations in the liquid form which were never really intended for direct contact..
I still can’t get my head around the fact that in 2022 when people are obsessed with disposable plastic and reusing everything that somehow something, the very purpose of which is to be reused and refilled, has been made disposable but still using technology that itself is designed for recharge and reuse. Wtf!?
In my day a bread toaster was a fairly expensive item you shopped for before buying. If it broke you repaired it. These days, in the US, most of them are sealed shut with no fasteners and no replacement parts available. I dislike a " throw away society" . Your channel always gives me new ideas for repurposing. This was a great example.
For all the talk there has been lately about lithium mining and its environmental impact, the use of these disposable lithium cells seems rather egregious. I'm actually surprised that this is the more profitable solution.
The waste here is almost criminal. We have finite lithium and it gets used for this nonsense. Disposable/one-use items should have to be renewable and biodegradable.
I saw 3 of these on one walk to the end of my road.
In my building complex, we have waste sorting bins, also one for batteries. So whenever there is a laptop battery in there or other rechargeable consumer electronics, I take it apart and save the cells. Often these cells have more than half of their life left, so a free source of 18560 cells. The cells in the featured video are excellent for small drones, which otherwise would be impossible to get replacement cells for without paying much too much.
I've found so many of them just laying around on the street. I've gathered 20+ Lithium Polymer 850mah cells. I had more, but I used those in some projects.
It’s a wonderful world for us that can take things to bits and salvage parts or entire devices from what the average person calls trash… just acquired a carpet cleaner from someone throwing it away, it was lithium battery powered and had one dead cell. I have since built a proper battery dwarfing the originals size.
Not only is it atrocious that these are being sold as disposable, they would be trivial to redesign to be refillable and rechargeable. But I guess they want to court the customers who just want to buy a replacement rather than deal with the "hassle" of recharge and reload process.
I don't know which I dislike more, the idea that perfectly good rechargeable lithium cells are "disposable" or the fact that a manufacturer used an aluminum housing on a "disposable" vape just to make it feel better in the hands.
> knicker tin
Would love to see more about reusing, testing, connecting, charging these little batteries
Haha, yep, I do that! They're also useful for head torches, to replace the 3 x AAA nightmare. You can connect them in parallel (making them self balancing, you can even mix different capacity cells this way) and put a protection circuit over the bunch. Using small cells lets you fit them into whatever space you have available. I then add a poundland powerbank USB charging circuit, with the big USB port unsoldered to make it flatter, and you have a USB rechargeable li-ion head torch :-)